Blue Plate Wednesday: Gen X in Iraq

Here are some Generation X headlines and blog posts to snack on after dinner.

First out of the shoot is something I really hope you’ll latch on to. I’ve been looking for this since I took on the task of building a solid Generation X blog roll six months ago. I wanted a Gen X blogger serving in Iraq. Even after visiting all the winning military blogs, I never found one that seemed to fit. (Most were written by military wives or Gen Y.) Well, here it is. This blogger is a Navy Reservist who has been mobilized. He just started his blog, Gen X in Iraq, so please go over and tell him hello and wish him well as he heads off to war. He’s currently training in Ft. Jackson, South Carolina.

Also, please note something you should really know. The average age of U.S. Soldiers killed in Iraq is 30. In World War II it was 26 and in Vietnam, 19. There are many different sources for this information. Some say 27 (twenty-seven in 2008 is the cutoff for Generation X) and others say 29. Either way you slice it, the most definitive sources clearly put the average age of everyone serving in Iraq at 30.

The widow and sons of fallen Army Captain Chris Cash, 36 (2004).

If you can bear to see it, the Washington Post has a project, Faces of the Fallen, which lists the 4,863 service members who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.***

*** A post at the Brazen Careerist online community encourages Gen X and beyond to get on the bandwagon with texting. (You can’t make me. Ha!)

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H/T to Latchkey Man for uncovering this first. The Kansas City Star runs Jennifer Brown’s column, Generation X gets raw deal in the naming game. I feel the need to point out that before we were “X” we were simply “13,” the most unlucky number in the world, which Howe and Strauss originally assigned us. (Thanks, dudes.) Anyway, it’s a great article.

Here is another contribution from Matthew Belson, Gen X Files: The Dreaded 20-Year Reunion. Belson is a Gen X journalist who writes about his shrinking demographic on Cape Cod.

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This next one is a blog post by freelance writer Naomi Munn. In Generation Brave she writes about “focusing on our dreams before they die and take us with them.” I could really relate to this post for a variety of different reasons. I think many of you will relate, too. Check it out!

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Another blogger, a librarian from Illinois, has a post, Dispatch from the GenX Bridge. She’s pretty exceptional blogger, and calls herself a information maven. She also has an impressive Twitter following. I wish all of you were on Twitter. Sigh.*** Here’s a blog post from a pastor in Australia who has noticed low numbers of Gen X at church.

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Dave Shoigian from Sacramento began a brand new blog, The Gen X Files on January 27. I really like the name of his blog. I can’t believe it wasn’t taken. Scully and Mulder were Xers you know, with Baby Boomer bosses who banished them to the basement. Still feel like you’re imagining things?

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For all you Gen X comic book lovers, check out Andrew Thompson’s review of Watchmen.

Comments

Thanks for the link to my blog. You are correct about the age of OEF (Operation Enduring Freedom) partcipants. I am in a group of 300 Navy reservists who are being sent through Army training to fill combat support roles in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Thanks for the plug on my Watchmen post, Jen. I don’t know if you read the graphic novel or not, but it is quintessential Gen X in many ways. Watchmen is what happens when you lose your Baby Boomer idealism … and your belief that there can really be any heroes.

I teach students who are stationed in Iraq, though my teaching position at American Military University (I adjunt part time for them). I think it is great when people remind us of our soldier’s and their sacrifices.

These are the Chronicles of Jennifer, more or less.

Hello, I’m Jennifer. Welcome to my blog about faith, family and generations. I’m a happy wife, mother and nana. I’m glad you stopped by today! I was born in East Los Angeles in 1967, and have lived in the Heartland since 1985. I’ve been blogging since 1999, and writing about my life and generation (Generation X, b. 1961-1981) since 2008. Where have you been this whole time?

Jesus is my Lord and Savior. My Very Good Shepherd. “For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16)